6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is written for Engineers by Engineers!!!, April 23, 2005
This review is from: Iso 9001: 2000 for Software and Systems Providers: An Engineering Approach (Hardcover)
This book has been on my desktop as a handy reference that has helped me in implementing software and systems engineering practices that are based on practical, proven advice. I'm not alone in my appreciation of this book.
I agree with A.K. Menon's review on ACM's reviews.com where A.K. states:
Bamford and Deibler have been deeply involved with ISO 9000/9001 since 1989, imparting training, and helping organizations in implementing ISO 9000/9001. They have adopted an approach exactly as their subtitle states: "an engineering approach." Throughout the book, the focus is maintained on the 138 requirements of ISO 9001:2000. Contrary to anyone's expectations, the standards contain several inconsistencies. A concept appearing in one paragraph is repeated in several other places. There are inconsistencies in the identification of requirements and relationships among other requirements. Some requirements appear in numbered paragraphs (for example, 8.5.2), while some are in lettered paragraphs (for example, 5.3.b). Clarity, correctness, and consistency are catchwords that characterize standards. Compromising on these attributes will confuse any implementation team, leading to wasteful rework, schedule slippage, and thus despair. The book is a reengineered version of the critical paragraphs of the ISO document.
The book is organized into eight chapters and eight appendices. The first two chapters cover the preliminaries, like a roadmap for implementing ISO 9001:2000, and the terminology and definitions. Of the eight paragraphs in the ISO document, five paragraphs (4 through 8) cover the requirements. Each of these five paragraphs was scrutinized to determine the requirement(s) unique to the paragraph. In the ISO context, a requirement is normally stated with the word "shall" preceding the statement. Since the paragraphs of ISO 9001 are not independent, the implementation team has to be careful to see which paragraph impacts others. Appendix C displays a chart showing the paragraph where a requirement occurs first, the paragraphs where the same requirement is referenced, and a brief explanation for the significance of the particular interconnect. This enables an implementing team to trace backward and forward from any requirement to all others it is related to, in accordance with ISO 9001. This strategy allows an organization to select for implementation all of the requirements that are relevant to the organization, its employees, and its stakeholders.
The book provides a critical analysis of ISO 9001:2000; it does not provide ISO 9001:2000, which is copyrighted. The book dissects ISO 9001:2000, and shows how it can be perceived as a framework for engineering processes.
The book will be of immense value to anyone interested in the quality aspects of the manufacturing/service/software/hardware sector. It will be very useful for software engineering or information technology (IT) courses. The publishers deserve accolades for bringing out a book that is written in an elegant style, and devoid of any syntactic or semantic errors.
Another review in Software Quality Professional by Carolyn Rodda Lincoln states:
This book is an excellent resource for both implementers and auditors.
The ISO standard is short (14 pages) and generic so that it applies to all types of businesses. Unlike the Software Engineering Institute's Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), which is designed for sof-ware and systems engineering, it is not immediately obvious how the ISO 9001:2000 standard applies to engineering situations. A commentary like this book is essential to properly understand the intent of the ISO standard and to implement it as part of continuous improvement for software and systems engineers. It would be very valuable for an organization that is just beginning to look at the standard. It is also valuable for auditors who have worked with other types of organizations but not engineers. It can be used both as a text for understanding the standard and as a handbook for reference during an audit.
ISO 9001:2000 for Software and Systems Providers should be in the library of everyone using ISO 9001:2000 for engineering projects.
All in all, I can't express it better than these two reviewers. This book should be read by anyone wanting an engineer's perspective on ISO 9001:2000 and how it can benefit their organization.
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